Nope, I only commented on the margin which is extremely high for a hardware maker. You can call it a profit, tax or anything you like. Whether it is good or bad is a matter of opinion.

I'm a satisfied user of a number of apple products and would like to have a few more but just can't afford to pay up to twice as much for a similar specs. I admit that the lifetime cost for an apple computer may well be less than a windows one, but the upfront cost can be impossible to overcome.

Nope, I only commented on the margin which is extremely high for a hardware maker. You can call it a profit, tax or anything you like. Whether it is good or bad is a matter of opinion.

I'm a satisfied user of a number of apple products and would like to have a few more but just can't afford to pay up to twice as much for a similar specs. I admit that the lifetime cost for an apple computer may well be less than a windows one, but the upfront cost can be impossible to overcome.

No, you can't call it a tax. A tax is something different (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax) By calling it a Tax you are misrepresenting and by implication expressing an opinion.

Nope, I only commented on the margin which is extremely high for a hardware maker. You can call it a profit, tax or anything you like. Whether it is good or bad is a matter of opinion.

I'm a satisfied user of a number of apple products and would like to have a few more but just can't afford to pay up to twice as much for a similar specs. I admit that the lifetime cost for an apple computer may well be less than a windows one, but the upfront cost can be impossible to overcome.

But they aren't just a hardware maker so comparing them to an HP, an Acer, an HTC or Motorola isn't a good match. bullhead pointed out above, which I think is accurate, "apple makes money on hardware + os + retail + support, so of course their margin is going to be big." I'd add services and content provider to that list given things like iTunes content and iTunes in the cloud.

I love Apple products and have at least a dozen Macs and other computers. That said, I understand that using Chinese slave labor does save on costs in manufacturing. I think Apple has t come clean on this issue. Yes, the Chinese workers "earn" about $2/day working 12-14hr shifts and living in dorms on the Foxconn City campus. But, face it, Apple is using these people to make record profits at the expense of American workers.

This stupidity always comes up. First, Apple products costs too much, hence the "Apple tax". But, Apple shouldn't use cheap labor in China. Raise of hands of the haters on here. Who is willing to pay $1200 for an iPad so it can be produced here in the USA? I didn't think so...... move along now.

I love Apple products and have at least a dozen Macs and other computers. That said, I understand that using Chinese slave labor does save on costs in manufacturing. I think Apple has t come clean on this issue. Yes, the Chinese workers "earn" about $2/day working 12-14hr shifts and living in dorms on the Foxconn City campus. But, face it, Apple is using these people to make record profits at the expense of American workers.

Last I checked, Chinese workers wanted the job and were thankful to have work. Standards of living and costs of living aren't the same everywhere. If you brought the jobs back, it would be at the expense of Chinese workers. The world doesn't revolve around America.

Not during the mid 1980s. Apple was churning out Macs with a healthy profit margin from a factory in California. Made the USA was stamped on the back of every Mac, baby!

And people were also willing to pay more for products. People aren't willing to pay more these days, as consumers have become accustomed to cheap Chinese-labor-based pricing.

It's a cultural problem enabled by political problems. Corporations are like lava and will follow the path of least resistance towards maximum profits; their creed is to maximize shareholder value. Blame society.

And people were also willing to pay more for products. People aren't willing to pay more these days, as consumers have become accustomed to cheap Chinese-labor-based pricing.

It's a cultural problem enabled by political problems. Corporations are like lava and will follow the path of least resistance towards maximum profits; their creed is to maximize shareholder value. Blame society.

The Chinese are willing to work for $2/day. The "owners" of Foxconn are billionaires. Fine. All I'm saying is that this is one of the main reasons Apple's margins are so high and why they are sitting on over $80 Billion in cash-on-hand. While I do believe US workers could be doing this work and it might not increase the price of the iPad unless Apple is wedded to this high margin. By one estimate, the price would be $65 per unit higher if made in the US. But, if Apple had to, they could lower their margins and the cost could be equalized. I am only saying this because the US needs jobs and I am a US citizen who supports "made in the USA" products. I really do not give a rat's ass about Chinese workers having jobs if it means US workers are out on the streets.

Despite the rampant comparisons to Apple's Mac HW sales to Windows OS the one that is never compared by the Apple hating dissenters is the excessive profit margins MS gets.

Probably has a lot more to do with the simple fact that the two aren't comparable. Software gross margins do not include development costs and the actual cost to manufacture each copy of a software program is comparatively low compared.

Probably has a lot more to do with the simple fact that the two aren't comparable. Software gross margins do not include development costs and the actual cost to manufacture each copy of a software program is comparatively low compared.

That is my point. They aren't comparable.

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

Now, let's say that they sell that product through an Apple store which gets 33% gross margin. The total selling price would be $1.5 M and Apple would make $900 K - or 60% gross margin based on the same $600 K in cost.

If those numbers are typical and if retail is 13% of the total, then retail would have added just over 1% to Apple's gross margin last quarter.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

I do agree. My comparison to MSFT was made to point out that there are tech companies that sustain margins much higher than Apple's 2011 and there's no endless shouts about a [fictional] "tax" or calls for them to stop being greedy and give their customers a break or their labor force more of their fair share. And it's interesting that people are content with comparing Apple to just PC manufacturers. A more proper comparison, albeit a different industry, would be a Cisco Systems who is OS, hardware, service, services, mostly direct sales, some channel distribution. Around 60% I think.